By Michael Eyibio
The Minister of Youth and Sport Development, Mr. Sunday Akin Dare, has expressed optimism that going by the performances of the athletes at the just concluded national trial held in Lagos, the country is hopeful of a better outing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan
The Minister stated this at the close of the Olympic trials yesterday at the Sports Complex of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.
According to him, “what is needed now, is more focus and determination by the athletes, coaches, technical advisers and staff so as to ensure podium appearances at the feat.
While commending the athletes for the commitment exhibited at the Trials, Mr. Dare urged them to avoid any act capable of hindering the realization of this goal
“All athletes, coaches, technical advisers and staff should shun any act capable of truncating our success at the feat”, he said.
Mr. Mohammed Manga, the Director of Press and Publicity in the Ministry quoted Dare as calling on the delegates to re-double their efforts towards making their Fatherland proud, noted that Nigeria, is among the best in the world ranking, as such he said, all hands should be on deck in the quest for laurels at the tournament.
Earlier, the President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Chief Tonobok Okowa, commended the President Muhammadu-led Administration for the efforts being put together to ensure the well-being of the athletes to ensure success at Tokyo 2020
He also assured that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), would do everything humanly possible to ensure that Nigeria records more podium appearances at the games.